Nearly one-third of Britain’s Jews have contemplated leaving the country in the past two years, one in seven British Jews feels unwelcome in Britain, and over one-third say they have felt the need to hide their Jewishness in public, according to findings from a YouGov poll published Sunday.
The poll, commissioned by British watchdog group Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, surveyed over 4,000 people in 2016 and 2017 to assess anti-Semitism in the U.K.
According to the campaign, only 15 anti-Semitic cases were prosecuted last year. A representative for the Crown Prosecution Service in Britain rejected the claim.
Campaign chairman Gideon Falter told Britain’s Sky News the poll’s findings are a warning shot to Britain’s authorities.
“We’ve got a very serious situation where on the one hand, British society is very effectively starting to shun anti-Semitism, but the institutions we rely on to protect our communities are not doing enough,” he said.
“We’ve been talking about it for years and years. When are they going to wake up?”
In response to the report, British Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said, “There can never be an excuse for hatred towards the Jewish community, and wherever we find it we shall oppose and challenge it. We are also providing an extra 13.4 million pounds [$17.2 million] to protect Jewish faith schools and synagogues.”
Mandy Blumenthal, who owns a real-estate business in Birmingham and whose father served as a major in the British Army, said she had encountered anti-Semitism and knows others who have been physically assaulted for being Jewish.
“I was always very happy in England; I come from a normal British family, my parents were so proud to be British and our ethos at home was always that you have to give back to society,” she said.
“I can’t believe I’m having to do this, but I’m literally scared not of what’s going to be happening in England tomorrow or even next year, but I think within the next 10 years it will not be tolerable for Jews here.”
By Erez Frisch and Israel Hayom Staff
(exclusive to JNS.org)
